Merlin: Exploratory Analysis with Imprecise Queries

• Published in: IEEE transactions on knowledge and data engineering Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 342 - 355
• Main Authors: Qarabaqi, Bahar, Riedewald, Mirek
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.02.2016; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 8.II.VIII.VIII; Algorithms; Data models; Estimates; Image color analysis; Interactive; Interactive data exploration and discovery; Probability distribution; Queries; Real time; Searching; Uncertainty; Interactive data exploration and discovery
• ISSN: 1041-4347; 1558-2191
• DOI: 10.1109/TKDE.2015.2496270

Merlin supports exploratory search in large databases. The user interacts with it by specifying probability distributions over attributes, which express imprecise conditions about the entities of interest. Merlin helps the user home in on the right query conditions by addressing three key challenges: (1) efficiently computing results for an imprecise query, (2) providing feedback about the sensitivity of the result to changes of individual conditions, and (3) suggesting new conditions. We formally introduce the notion of sensitivity and prove structural properties that enable efficient algorithms for quantifying the effect of uncertainty in user-specified conditions. To support interactive responses, we also develop techniques that can deliver probability estimates within a given realtime limit and are able to adapt automatically as interactive query refinement proceeds.